The School Job
by kausingkayn
Summary: The team has a new con on their plate. A corrupt College, a major drug scandal, and a new partner. Rated T for safety and later content. Set after *The Second David Job* Nate/Sophie, Hardison/Parker, Eliot/OC
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: This is my first attempt at a Leverage FanFiction, so please be understanding. I hope I did a good job at getting the characters personalities right. This will be a short story, there will only be one con in this plotline, sorry. This will also be the average length for each chapter. It came up to about 3 pages on my Word Document, so I think I'm not cheating you out of anything. The whole thing is set after the Season Finale, and the crew is in Oregon. **

**I will be updating once a Month, around the same time each month, give or take a week. If I know that I have a lot of readers, then I might update more frequently. **

**I would like to say a special thank you to my Beta Reader, LoveAndSerenity, she is awesome.**

**Pairings: Slight Hardison/Parker, slight Nate/Sophie, slight Eliot/OC**

**Disclaimer: If I owned "Leverage", Christian Kane would be in MyCircle. Lemme check....nope!**

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It had been a long night that was sure to get longer. The rest of the Leverage team had gone home over two hours ago, leaving their leader there by himself. Nate sat in the new Conference room alone with his drink. The only source of light came from the small screen on his laptop that was currently lying on the round, glass table in front of him. He was going over the plan that he had pieced together for their current customer. Nate was having problems in formulating this specific plan, the team did not have enough information to go on as of yet, and they hadn't exactly been working as smoothly as they had in LA.

They weren't totally to blame; IYS had a little something to do with it…okay, a lot. It was because of Nate's old insurance company that Hardison had to blow up their late place of operations, and the team had to flee the state and run like the criminals they all were all the way to Oregon. Hardison and Nate had tried their best to make the new office as close of a replica to the old one, but that was an impossible task. Leverage Consulting was still a 'legal' business, and their offices still took up a whole floor of a rented-out building, but that was about where it all stopped. The only real reminder of the life they all had in LA was the creepy portrait that Hardison 'painted' of the company's founder. Even the portrait had stopped being just a strange portrait. For the first week or so, the team would stop and stare at that portrait for a few moments, reminiscing about the past events that brought them unjustly to this place. However, as the days past, the rest of the team stopped their morning ritual. Eliot was the first to stop, the retrieval specialist was used to having to give up everything and run because a past enemy decided they wanted to kill him in some strange way. Parker was the next one to forget the past, followed by Sophie. Hardison had quit taking glances at the portrait, and before he knew it, Nate was all by himself. But he guessed that was how everyone was so good at what they did; everyone was able to forget the past. It was all just business.

At least, that was what everyone said when asked about it. Their actions showed differently. Since their move from LA, the team had started to drift. Even though the team accepted Sophie's not-apology, Eliot still had a hard time trusting her. His anger had started to get in the way of their jobs, and he had killed more than one man unnecessarily during a con. Parker would run off and do something crazy, like stabbing people with various types of utensils, and Hardison started to have focus issues again. Sophie was the only one who seemed to stay the same, yet again; Nate never knew when Sophie was truly being just Sophie, and not some made up person who was created on Hardison's computer. The team had started to go back to their lives before the Nigerian Job, when all they had was themselves. Nate knew that if something didn't happen fast, Leverage would be done with, and he would start to fall backwards, back to the place he had been before labeled 'rock bottom.'

Nate sighed and closed his computer screen. He had done enough thinking for one night, and if he continued to have these depressing thoughts, he wasn't sure if he would be able to get out of them. He had to wait a moment as the room went dark, the glow emitting from the computer had been his only source of light. Once his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he packed his computer into a small bag that hung on his shoulder, and picked up his glass of alcohol. He found his way to the kitchen, and placed the cup in the sink. He was going through the lobby and was about to unlock the front door to get out when he hesitated. Nate slowly reached for the light switch, and swung around, facing the small couch located on the opposite wall before turning the lights on. What he saw scared the crap out of him, and Nate could have sworn that his heart had skipped a few beats. Sitting on the couch like she was meant to be there, was a young woman.

She sat in the corner of the couch, but it wasn't because she wanted to save space. Her slender right arm was stretched across the back of the couch, her fingers lightly tapping in a hypnotizing rhythm. Her fingernails looked as if they were recently treated to a French manicure, the white tips blurred as her fingers moved. Her other arm was resting gently in her lap, a small silver pistol laying next to her left hand, looking innocent to all of the world. Her legs were crossed, and her feet were dressed in shoes with heels that would rival Sophie's. The rest of her attire seemed as if it was chosen for the exact task of being bland. Her blue jeans were complemented with a simple black tank top along with a long, single silver chain that held no charms or trinkets. Her hair was let down, it was around an inch or two longer than Eliot's. The coloring was a different matter; it was naturally black, with brown streaks placed expertly in the locks. Her grey-green eyes stared a hole in his blue ones, and a knowing smirk was gracing her bare lips. "Hello, Mr. Ford."

"What do you want?" Normally, Nate wouldn't be this rude, even if he was having a conversation with a possible bad guy. However, extraneous circumstances, including lack of sleep, caused him to forgo the mental dance and be straight and blunt. He was also having a hard time not looking at the dangerous object lying in the woman's lap. Every time his eyes lay on it, the deadly metal seemed to laugh at him. The woman, it seemed, noticed this as well, and caused one of the laughs to become reality. It was a short, small laugh that seemed like more of a chuckle. "Don't worry, if I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already."

"Well, that's certainly comforting." He watched as the woman picked up the small metal gun and played with it for a few seconds. She handled it the way that Nate imagined Eliot would handle such a gun if he ever caught him using one. That information was both comforting and unnerving. The woman finally clicked the little safety lever so that the gun was no longer ready to fire, and placed it on the arm of the couch. She then uncrossed her legs and stood up. She stood about a half a head shorter than Nate while wearing the heels, which made her a woman of average height, a blessing if you worked on the darker side of life. She began to slowly pace the room, making sure to stay in front of Nate so he didn't have to move to keep an eye on her. Her heels make a soft click-lack noise as they came in contact with the floor. "You know, Mr. Ford, that the world has started it's decent to chaos, when things start to fall apart. For example: Men blowing up their own office buildings, insurance companies denying a soundproof claim to one of their greatest assets…" A flinch worked its way out of Nate. "…those who hunt having to worry about being hunted…you get my drift, no?"

"I don't have the energy nor the time to play games, try your speech somewhere else." Nathan moved toward a single chair that meant for customers. He was tired of standing, and assessed the woman earlier statement to be true. As long as he didn't anger this strange woman, no harm would come to him tonight, at least from her hands. His sitting down caused her to pause in walking side by side. Instead if sitting back down, she continued to stand, placing herself directly in front on Nate. "But isn't that what you _do_ Nathan? Play 'mind games' all day long? Oh…don't look surprised, I do my homework."

Nathan was surprised all right. Surprised that this woman knew a lot about his company. He hated it when people knew more about him than he did about them. Maybe it was the conman in him, or maybe it was the paranoid insurance investigator that lay only partially dormant inside. He sighed, showing off his agitation with the whole ordeal. "Are you here to mock me, or is this conversation actually going somewhere?"

Another smirk. They were getting slightly annoying. It was as if she knew a big secret about him and wanted to tell, but wouldn't. "Alright, fair enough. I have a proposition for you. A – you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours – kinda deal. " She then walked back over to the couch, where she pulled a good sized black purse from behind the couch. From it, she pulled an innocent looking manila envelope, which she handed to Nate. She stood up as he read it; feet spread slightly apart, all her weight on her right foot. After about a minute she crossed her arms. Nate took his time reading through the information. Another case against a large, international company that has gotten so comfortable with its power that it has started to make mistakes. Just the kind of case they took. At the back of the report was an extra sheet of paper. Further reading showed that it was a resume, probably the woman's. Nate started to see what was happening. "I'll provide the much-needed glue for your team if you provide me with…leverage…"

Nate stared at the folder in his hand, reading over the resume once more. He would get Hardison to run some of the names, but the woman had some talents that would be great assets to the team. And introducing a new player would either make or break the current group. Seeing that they were already starting to break, it was a risk that Nathan was more than willing to take. He placed the folder on a small side table next to his chair before standing up. He thrust his hand out, palm upward, to initiate a handshake. "Well then, Miss…."

"Knite."

"Well then, Miss Knite, you have yourself a deal."

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**And there you have it folks. What do you think? I'm not begging but REVIEWS would be loved!**


	2. Grand Introduction

**Author's Note: Here you go, the first official chapter! Hope y'all like it! Thank you to my single reviewer, and other silent viewers out there, you keep me writing. That, and my BetaReader. I am hopping to get a few laughs out of you, so please lemme know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage, nor any of the characters. Except the mysterious Miss. Knite and her total AWESOMENESS! -cough- erm...**

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It had been about a week since Nate had hired the sixth member of the 'Leverage' crew. With another player, he had been able to quickly work out the rough patches in his plans. Miss Knite seemed like the perfect candidate, now, only if he could get the rest of the team on board. He hadn't told anyone yet, including Hardison. Instead of going to the computer geek to run the background check, Nate had decided to run one himself. Everything came up just like the woman told him it would, all the past jobs she had done were real, as far as he could tell. Of course, once introduced, Nate would allow the rest of the team to run their own background checks. They were a team, after all, even though he was the leader.

Everyone had conjoined in the new conference room, and Hardison was connecting his computer to the big screen. He had made one of his special PowerPoints after Nate had sent him the information. Hardison wore a long sleeve black and brown marble shirt with a large pattern placed on the back of some video game accompanied by a pair of dark blue jeans. Parker and Sophie were sitting at opposite end of the table, like they always did. Parker had on a plain white long-sleeved shirt that had a mini black vest on top of it. She had decided to wear her hair up, and had also adorned a pair of black jeans. Sophie had gone for the other end of the spectrum, dressing herself in a long blue day-dress complimented by a pair of boots. Nate sat down in him chair next to Sophie, and leaned back, getting ready for the long reiteration ahead of him. Eliot was the last to come into the room, his cowboy boots clomping as he walked. He was wearing a regular brown and blue plaid collared shirt, unbuttoned, with a white muscle shirt underneath. His jeans were held up by one of his signature belts, and he had his normal collected on bracelets on his left wrist. He sat himself down next to Parker. Nathan decided to jumpstart the meeting, and gave his O.K. to begin. "Alright, let's see what we got."

Hardison nodded, and a picture of a middle-aged couple came up on the screen. "Mr. and Mrs. Batten. Their daughter s'currently in the ICU b'cause of seizures that mom and pops believe are related to some drugs that her college professors sold 'er." The current photo faded away to a large, expensive looking campus. "Westministers College. It's a private, high-class school. I mean, you either have to be the next Steve Jobs or have loads a'cash. From what I know, our client has the second half…." Hardison was about to click to the next slide, when Eliot interrupted him.

"What kind of drugs we talkin' 'bout here? Meth, Speed, Crank…" He left the sentence open, in case there was anything else anyone wanted to add. Hardison gave him an annoyed look; he hated it when people interrupted his PowerPoints. Parker stared at Eliot with one of her 'Parker' stares that only she could muster. "Should we be concerned that you know the names of all these drugs?"

Eliot shot her a dirty look, and was about to shoot her an even dirtier response, when Hardison butt in. A picture of a tox screen from the hospital that their clients' daughter was staying at materialized on the big screen. "Actually, that's part of our job. Our girl's tox screen came up positive, but the doc's couldn't match it with any known drugs with those kind'a side affects." That complicated things. If the drug wasn't known to the US, they could be dealing with international drug trafficking, which raised the alert bell a few notched.

Sophie had been quite this whole time, her brain processing the information. She finally decided to speak up. "So we have to uncover the teachers selling the drugs, find out exactly what it is they're trafficking, _and _bring their operation to light…" It seemed like a lot to do, especially in such a short amount of time. If they were going to bring the whole thing to light before their client's daughter was out of luck, they would have to work fast. Uncovering a drug operation was one thing. Identifying it was a whole other ordeal.

"Let's take the drug identity out of the equation, at least for now. Focus on finding these professors. Then we will proceed to phase II. Hardison has already created covers for all of you." Nate decided that it was time to cut in. He was sure that there was more to the presentation than everyone had seen, but they got the jest of it. Plus, Miss Knite was due to stop by, since this was going to be her first job. He wanted everyone already filled in before she got there. It would be so much easier. Hardison frowned, but picked up a pile of manila folders that had been silently sitting on the edge of the glass table. All but one was passed around the room. Everyone opened and read their files. Eliot took his wire-rimmed glasses out of his shirt pocket to better read the fine print. "Right, we got several people, coverin' all angles." Hardison spoke as he completed handing out the cover stories and sat down in his own chair.

Sophie was the first one to completely finish reading over her file. A concerned feature graced her face as she looked up. "Nate…there's a slight problem. I don't know how to play Volleyball…" Just because she was a woman didn't mean that she knew how to play a woman's sport. In fact, Sophie Devereaux was not what you would call a 'sporty' person. She liked to stick to the conning.

"Wait, the 'teachin' position' is for a Volleyball coach?" Everyone looked surprised, as Eliot was the one to speak up. Nathan knit his brows in concentration, trying to work out yet another kink in the plan. "Girls Volleyball. Why?"

"Nothin'…it's just, my sister played for 'er school team, and I sorta…helped." The words were more mumbled that spoken. Eliot found something very interesting in the glass table, and stared at it as his long hair fell in front of his face.

"Eliot, you played Volleyball…with _girls?_" A small chuckle found itself coming out of Parker's lips. Eliot's hands formed fists under the table as he mumbled some incoherent words.

"Dude, that's totally messed up…in an awesome sorta way…" Of course, Hardison had to input his two cents. However, this time it was not for an insult. The Hitter had been smart, as far as men go. If he got on the Volleyball team, he got to spend all day with sweaty, athletic girls…it seemed as if Eliot was much smarter than anyone would peg him to be.

"Can we focus here? Ok, Eliot, you'll take the coaching job." Nate was getting tired of the usual jabbering. He looked at the clock, and opened his mouth to continue with the briefing when Parker's hand shot into the air like a bullet. Another sigh from the team leader. "Yes, Parker?"

"Whose got the student job?" In fact, that was a question running through everyone's mind. Everyone but Nate's of course. They all were pass their college days, and even though it wasn't unusual to see a thirty-some-odd year try to graduate, there wouldn't be that student connection that the team needed to succeed in this case. Sophie was the first to speak up about the issue. "Yeah. Nate, all of us are too old to pass as a college student. Even if we could, none of us would be able to get close to any of the students that are suspected of using."

"I mean, the closest thing we got is Parker, and she ain't exactly user friendly." Eliot retorted in return for the earlier volleyball quip.

"Hey!" In truth, Parker was the youngest in the group, but even she was too old. Plus, as Eliot said, they needed someone who could blend in, not blend out. "Can we stay on task here? I realize that everyone here is a bit too…_old_…for the College life, so I took the liberty of bringing someone else in." That comment brought on a lot of noise. Everyone spoke at once, all of them not being able to believe that Nathan would bring a newbie on board without at first telling them. He was their leader, but that didn't meant that he had to keep them in the dark.

"Wait…what?"

"Without asking us?"

"Nate!"

"Who is it?"

And then, as if on queue, the woman that Nathan was talking about walked through the door of the conference room. Her clothes were a little less bland than the first time she came to the office. She was still wearing heels, the shoe color still being black. It seemed almost as if she was self-conscious about her height. Her jeans leaned more toward the lighter end of the spectrum, and there were faded spots near where her knees would be. Her top consisted of a long sleeve black shirt that was laced like a corset all the way up the front. It was low cut, and had a crew-cut neckline. Her hair was still let down, and the same plain silver necklace was draped from her neck. A large, yellow pocketbook hung on her shoulder.

The room grew silent as the crew stared at the newcomer, the same question running through all of their minds. The woman's green eyes swept across the room, pausing to look at each persons face. After she had evaluated everyone, she took one more step closer and placed a slender hand on her hip. "What I miss?"

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**-giggle- Eliot plays Volleyball -giggle- Read and Review! Preferably both!**


	3. Do I Know You?

**Author's Note: Here we are, the next installment, and a few weeks early! Yay me! Haha. Seriously, though, I am going to try and update more often, I am aiming for twice a month, or every other weeks, depends on how you look at it. I know all the chapters have been in the office, but next chapter is in the field, I promise! Thanks to all my reviewers, and my Beta!**

**Disclaimer: I wish**

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The silence, however awkward, failed to stay in place for long. Nate stood up to better present the new team member. He hoped to start the introductions before everyone started accusing him of wrongdoing, but he was a bit slow. Hardison was the first on to react. "Are you serious?"

I still cannot believe that you hired her without talking to us first." Sophie was able to throw her comment at him as well before Nate was able to defend himself. Miss Knite crossed her arms under her chest. She hated being talked about as if she wasn't even in the room. "Hello, _she_ is standing right here." Her comment was ignored.

Since the moment that she stepped through the door, Eliot had been staring at her. HE could have sworn that he had seen her somewhere before, yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Do I know you?"

Miss Knite took a second look at Eliot. In fact, she did know him. Not from a personal experience, no, but she was hired to track him down and give him a 'message' once…

_It was a very cold night, and Miss Knite had to continuously rub her hands together to keep them from numbing up. In a few minutes, her mark would be walking through the alleyway below the building that she was crouched on, and she needed to be ready to pull the trigger on her sniper rifle at any moment. She looked at the text on the screen of her phone once more before permanently turning it off. Knowing her luck, one of the few people with her number would decide that they needed to talk to her, and the lighting of the little blue screen on the front of the phone would give her up. The person that she was hired to 'take care of' was a professional himself. Her contacts on the street called him a 'Hitter,' but the politically correct term for the job would be a 'Retrieval Specialist._

_Her employer had been very specific. She got a million up front, and one more once the job was done. It was a large sum, especially since he didn't want for the mark to be killed, just scared. Of course, it would have been a job in itself to get the mark scared at all. That was why they brought her in. She was very good at what she did. In fact, she was the best alive at the moment. Greater ones had come before her, but that was in the past. _

_She met her client at his workplace, after hours. She had noticed that the video cameras had been shut off, so she hadn't had to worry about being caught on tape. Once she got there, she had spoken to the man for a few minutes. She didn't ask why he wanted her to do this specific task, but he told her anyway. This Retrieval Specialist fought his way through her client's whole team of guards, and managed to get away with over 5 million dollars in merchandise. All under ten minutes. The client was not upset at the fact that the man stole the merchandise, but because he was able to do it so easily. If word got around, then his reputation was screwed. So he hired her to track him down._

_It wasn't nearly as hard to find him than she thought. It only took about two months. He had left the country, which worked better in her favor. They were currently in a small town along the outskirts of Ireland. She had been waiting on the top of the building for several hours over the past week, and she had a feeling that tonight was the night._

_She was just about to call it a night when a dark form came out of one of the doors. She picked up her binoculars and focused them on the figure. Once she ID-ed her mark, she silently picked up the rifle and focused on his right shoulder, his hitting arm. She waited a few moments, allowing herself to calm down. Her heart still got that light fluttery feeling right before she pulled the trigger. The adrenaline rushed through her body, and her hands grew steady. She breathed in, and as she exhaled, pulled the trigger. _

_A large bang filled the air, followed by a surprised yell of pain. The man she had shot dropped to the ground, grabbing the bullet wound with his left hand while searching the rooftops with his eyes. She decided to make it easy for him, and stood up. She created a short whistle with her teeth before giving him a small wave. The Retrieval Specialist's eye opened wide before he began running for the entrance to the building she was on._

_He would get there just as she was disappearing; all signs that the shooter had been there would be gone. All that was left was a small piece of paper signed by her client and addressed to Eliot Spencer._

"Not likely." Miss Knite's eye's came back into focus as she finished remembering her first encounter with the Retrieval Specialist. Eliot's eye still showed disbelief, but, thankfully, he let the topic drop. She had heard stories about the man; she liked to research her marks before diving in. This was one guy that she wouldn't want to get mad, especially since she left her favorite gun back at her apartment, and she was pretty sure that the taser in the pocketbook wouldn't keep him down for long. She knew how to fight; she was pretty adequate, in fact. However, her skill was more in tracking and gunning down her marks, not fighting a guy who made it is life to know how to kill someone in less than five seconds. "Uh, everyone, this is –"

"Tori Knite. I can introduce myself thank you." Tori cut Nate off mid sentence.

"Alright. This is Hardison, Parker, Sophie, and Eliot." Nate stared at Tori, but continued his introduction. As each name was spoken, the correct conman –or woman– gave a small smile or semi-friendly wave. They still were not sure what to think of this newcomer. Each team member wanted to run his or her own background check. Hardison made himself a mental note to send some of his web crawlers to research her name on the Internet. Eliot itched to sit her down in a small metal chair with a big, bright light shining in her eyes. Parker wanted to throw her off a building with a bungee cord, and Sophie…well, Sophie wanted to know why Nate hadn't talked to her about this. Tori gave a smile and a nod at each one, trying not to dwell on each one too long. It seemed strange to be introducing herself to a group where she was like each one, a follower of some sorts. In every group she ever worked with, Tori was the one in charge, able to fire and give commands at will. The other times, she worked alone. It was easier this way. Plus, she wasn't real good at treating people as equals. They were either the mark, who she held in low esteem, the client, who was held in high esteem, or everyone else.

The awkward silence grew even longer and Parker got up from her chair and slowly advanced upon the new arrival. She stared at Tori for a few moments, giving her one of her one-of-a-kind Parker glares. Then, she leaned in and sniffed the side of her shirt before stepping back, nose crinkling up into a little ball. "Smells like a thief." The tension in the atmosphere began to dissolve a little. It seemed as if Parker accepted the new girl, so that was two down, three to go.

"Thanks…" Tori was unsure how to take the comment, was it a compliment or an insult?

Sophie stood up from her chair and gestured to Nate. "Nate, can I talk to you about something?...Now?"

"Uh…ok. Hardison, fill Tori in." Nate facial expression grew slightly scared as he followed Sophie into the nearest room. A small shiver ran through the team's spine, they all knew how Sophie could get. The last one to make a huge mistake was Eliot when he forgot to put film in the camera while shooting her scene in 'Howl Force.' She didn't forgive him for a week, and hid all his cooking utensils that he brought to Leverage HQ to make food with when he had to pull an all-nighter.

Hardison cleared his throat, and then hesitantly held up a small folder for Tori to take. She understood the gesture, and took a few steps toward the glass table, her heels making an echoing sound that filled the small room. The raised voices coming from the other room were like background music. Once she had the sheet in hand, Hardison restarted his briefing. "Basically, we're goin' to infiltrate that college to figu—"

"I can read, thank you." Tori once again cut off a member of the Leverage team. Hardison raised his hands in mock defense before sitting down in his chair. Tori read through the papers, and then helped herself to an empty chair. The information seemed interesting; this would be a fun job. Nathan told her that her role might be a bit difficult for her, but it was only college, and how hard could that be?

Hardison had been watching her carefully, seeing how fast she scanned through in the information on the pages. It had taken him almost two days to get all the information together for all the cover stories. He would have to remake one for Tori, but that wasn't what he was worried about. "So what exactly do you _do_?"

"Nathan didn't fill you in?" Tori's brow rose quizzically. Seemed like Nate didn't have everything pulled together as nicely as he made it seem.

"Nope. He's been cranky lately" Parker piped up.

Tori gave another one of her small, knowing smiles before she replied smartly. "You'll just have to wait to find out…"

"Oh, cause that makes it _so_ much clearer." Hardison didn't understand why everyone had to have such trivial career names. A hacker _hacked_ for a living. He didn't have that mysterious air around his job title. However, he felt as if this Tori girl was more dangerous than met the eye. Like with Eliot, he would just have to wait and find out.

The voices from the room next door grew louder, before going back down to their normal levels. Tori turned around in her chair to get a better look. "What's up with them?" She tilted her head toward the room where Nate and Sophie were arguing about something.

"It's sexual tension. If I didn't know better, I'd say they're enjoyin' it." Eliot finally decided to speak up. He still looked at her with that strange, not-quite-all-there look, but it seemed as if he had stopped thinking about where he knew her for the moment. Tori gave a half-laugh before the door cracked open, and Nate came back into the conference room.

His face was slightly red, and he looked out of breath. His eyes scanned the room for a moment. "Alright, everyone up to speed?" Four heads nodded. "good," he continued. "Let's go con a college."

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**You know the drill!**


	4. Strokes, Hospitals, and Tryouts

**Author's Note: I cannot apologize enough for this chapter being late. I want to update twice this week to make it up to you, but seeing that I have to study for exams, that isn't going to work. I will post the next chapter around the 10th though, so be ready. Thanks to my reviewers and silent watchers out there. This chapter is a bit longer than the others, and the con finally starts. Hope you enjoy!**

**It is not Beta'ed, I seem to have lost all contact with my BetaReader.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Leverage...just Tori.**

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It was a week before official classes started, and the dorms were beginning to fill. Most of the fall sports held tryouts before the school year started, so most of the students on campus were athletes. The day was cool enough to wear jeans, but hot enough for a short sleeve shirt. The college itself was huge, several buildings waiting to greet someone at the gate, with multiple others hiding behind them. The running track looped around half of the campus ground, and every few seconds a man or woman in running shoes and jogging shorts would pass by. All in all, everything seemed normal.

A silver mustang pulled up past the front of the college. It continued past the main buildings until it found the closest parking lot. There, the car pulled into the closest spot available, and the driver got out. Her heels showed up first, followed by a pair of legs clad in jeans. Next came the hands, then the arms, which had multiple bracelets and rings upon them. Finally, the rest of the woman stood up and closed the door behind her. Her black and brown hair was let down, and a short sleeve blue and white striped shirt covered her abdomen and chest. A long, silver chain was the only necklace.

Tori opened the back door of her car before reaching in to grab her purse and a folder that held her college information. She closed and locked the door, then began walking back toward the dorm section of the college. As she walked, Tori flipped through the information packet. Hardison had to work almost overnight to get her cover story in tact, then they had to wait a few more days to let her new profile sink into the system. He had set her up as a junior who had transferred from LA. That would allow her to get closer to the older students, who Nate claimed were more likely to be deeper into drugs than freshman, who might not know a lot about the trafficking. In her ear, a small, transparent device was nesting, several voices emitting from it. Nate and Hardison were walking her through her cover story once more, with Sophie butting in to give advice about how to approach her new roommate. Hardison had fixed it so that Tori got the client's daughter's old room. That way, she could secretly question the roommate without anything seemed out of the ordinary.

Tori stopped flipping through the information when she came upon her class itinerary. The paper had her schedule laid out weekly. She had several classes that started before eight, and one night class. The times didn't bother her, it was the names of the actual classes. "You cannot be serious!" She mumbled into her earpiece. A few students were approaching, walking the opposite way, and Tori waited until they were out of range to continue. "I can't even _pronounce_ half of these!"

"We needed you in the high-stress classes, there should be more drug activity there. Oh, and don't worry about the courses, Hardison's going to be taking care of that." Nate's reassuring voice explained.

"Wow, wait just a minute…" Hardison's voice filled her head. Tori ignored the rest of Hardison's complaining, she had to focus on what she was doing. She had never been on a college campus this big before.

Tori finally found her way to the building where her dorm was located. She walked through the front door, and walked toward the elevator. Once inside, she pressed the button for the third floor. The housing building had about five floors on it. The elevator dinged and Tori stepped out. She looked out of the large glass window on her left and spotted an ambulance with its lights on before continuing down the hallway. Her room number was 312, which was located around the corner. The closer she got, the more voices that could be heard. The voices were strained, and a few sounded urgent. Dread began to seep into Tori's mind as she rounded the corner.

"What's going on?" Tori didn't hear Nate's question as she stared at the activity going on. A group of people was clogging up the doorway to room 312. Through the heads she saw the outline of two people wearing the modern-day paramedics outfit. This was not good. Tori pushed and shoved her way through the small crowd to be able to see what exactly was going on. The two paramedics were loading a girl onto a stretcher. Or, to be more specific, the two paramedics were loading their only lead in this case onto the stretcher. Once the girl was properly strapped, the paramedics began to wheel her through the door. On their way out of the room, Tori tried to grab their attention. "s'cuse me, What happened?"

"Stroke." The one closest to her replied before they disappeared through the mini crowd. The group followed the paramedics, leaving Tori alone in the room.

"Shit. This isn't good…" She placed her hand to her ear so that the team could better hear her.

"What just happened?" Hardison's voice finally came through after a moment of silence.

"Our lead just had a stroke, that's what just happened…" Tori paced back and forth in the room, running the scenario through her head. She paused momentarily to kick a nearby object on the floor, then, almost mechanically, started to go through everything in the room.

"Hardison, what are you doin', man? How could you _not_ know there was an ambulance on campus!" Eliot's hard voice cut through the chatter.

"Alright, let's calm down and see what we got. This may be evidence that our client's roommate was also using. Sophie, I want you to go to the hospital and get a copy of our girl's tox report. Everyone else, stick to the plan…" Nathan began to bark out orders, an alternate version of the main plan already forming in his head. This could be a good thing. If the roommate's tox screen showed the same chemicals as their client, which meant that there really was a drug scandal. Plus, it meant that they both took the drugs. "…Tori, I need you to evaluate the two girls, find connectio—"

"—Already on it." Tori cut Nathan off. She was currently running through the planner that was occupying space on the roommate's desk. Nothing out of the ordinary, at least to the untrained eye. "Hardison, I need you to send me the client's online planner to my phone." Nothing really stood out, but she had a feeling that if she looked at the planners side by side, something would pop out.

A few grumbling words later, Tori's phone began to vibrate. She opened the message, and scrolled through the itinerary. Tori's face lit up in a smile, and a moment later she closed her phone. "Think I got it. I just need to check out a few more things…"

"Parker, help Tori out, get her whatever she needs." Nate caught Tori's underlying drift. He leaned back in the van and smiled. He knew it was a good idea that he brought her on board. Even though what she was doing didn't look like much, in the end the result would be huge. This was what Tori did. You hand her a ransom note and she can track down the author. You hand her a picture of a missing girl, and that said girl shows up on your doorstep. You hand her a bunch of random information, and she connects the dots.

* * *

After Nate had told Sophie to go to the hospital, she waited only long enough for Hardison to quickly throw together a visitors badge that proved that she was a relative of the roommate, who she later learned was named Alison Cartrette. Then, she grabbed a cab to the hospital. On her way, Sophie put some eye drops in her eyes to make them look red and puffy from 'crying.' Once she arrived at the hospital, she made her way through to the information desk, where the woman told her to wait until her 'niece' was finished being taken care of. Sophie sat in the waiting room for over two hours, listening to the chatter over the COM, and every once in a while speaking up herself. Eliot was trying to figure out which Volleyballs were the best for serving, Hardison was working on the mysterious drug identity, Nate was fixing the plan, and Parker was helping Tori.

Sophie was unsure of what to think about the newest addition to the group. She felt horrible about the way she reacted when she first met the girl, but she was hurt even more because Nate had neglected to tell _her_ about it.

Sophie knew that they weren't exactly a couple. Not yet, anyhow. When a grifter set her mind to something, it normally ended up happening, one way or another. Sophie still had feelings for Nate, and she was willing to bet that the feeling was mutual. She had to be careful, however, not to push him too far.

Her train of thought going back to Tori, Sophie tried to figure out why Nate brought in another player. It had seemed like they had all the grounds covered. After Nate had described to her exactly what Tori did, though, Sophie had started to see where he was coming from. She wasn't sure about the girl's attitude. Tori was the kind of person who liked to be in charge, and it was obvious through her actions and words. Sophie hoped that when it came down too it, the new girl would swallow her pride and take orders.

Sophie was unable to dwell on past decisions any longer, because the nurse called her name. A small smile found its way out of Sophie's lips as she silently made her way to the room that the nurse at the desk told her that her niece was in.

The poor girl looked so small lying in the hospital bed. A heart monitor machine was set up next to the bed, and every so often would made the beeping sound that reminded everyone that the patient's heart was still pumping. The girl was asleep, but Sophie didn't need to talk to her, at least not yet. She nonchalantly made her way to the edge of the bed, where she placed herself between the chart hanging on the end of the bed and the camera placed inside the hospital room.

The camera had been easy to spot; she didn't even need Hardison's help. It wasn't one that was hidden inside of a wall or a painting, it was more like someone took a camcorder and placed it on a stand on the wall. The chart was hanging off the edge of the bed. It seemed like a stupid thing, to have the patient's record just lying out, but that was what the camera was supposed to be for.

She fumbled with the chart for a moment before finding a copy of the tox screen. She then slipped the paper under her light jacket, and walked to the nearest restroom. Inside the stall, she brought the paper to light, then pressed her finger to her ear. "Alright Hardison, I got the tox screen, now what?"

"Get out, for starters." Hardison had previously tried to hack into the hospitals mainframe to get a virtual copy of the tox screen. However, this hospital was one of the less funded hospitals in the state, and they had just begun transferring all their patient files to computers. Their client, and their client's roommate happened to be two of the people whose file was still only on paper.

Sophie smirked as Hardison's remark, and began to walk toward the exit. Once she got outside, she hailed a cab, and directed the driver to take her to the College. There was work to be done.

* * *

Eliot stared at the clock on the wall of the gym for a few minutes, willing for it to stop, or even go in reverse. It had been a very long day, and that was without having to deal with umpteenth college girls who thought they knew how to play volleyball. He had to check in early in the morning, and then be given a long and boring tour of the schools. Then, to his delight, Eliot got to hold small talk with several different professors over several hours. It helped a little that Sophie was feeding him lines, but it didn't make time go any quicker. When he thought the worst was over, Eliot found out that the previous coach didn't exactly leave on a nice note. He spent the remainder of the day pumping up volleyballs and setting up several nets in the large gymnasium. It turned out they had two, which he learned earlier when he went to the wrong one.

It was almost 5:30, and tryouts were about to begin. He gave himself one more look-over to make sure he looked the part. Eliot wasn't sure what a college coach wore, so Sophie had helped him out with that, too. Turns out that there was a teacher dress code, so he wasn't allowed to wear any of his jeans, which left him with virtually no pants.

Sophie had finally decided on a pair of dark slacks, followed by a casual jacket with a white shirt, accompanied by a long tie matching the jacket and slacks. Eliot, of course, found it ridiculous. He may have never gone to college, but he was pretty sure gym pants and a tee shirt was what most coaches wore.

The outfit was not the sense of Eliot's anger that had been rising all day. That was located on the identification card that Hardison had handed him a few days before. The school name was printed in bold letters across the front. A picture of him with his hair pulled back graced the left side, and to the right, was the most embarrassing name a parent could ever dream of naming their son. Lesley McPherson.

Eliot sure hoped that Hardison had a good laugh, because the next time he saw that man, he won't be able to talk, let alone laugh.

He began to volley a ball against the wall, but stopped as the girls began to file in. Most of them were dressed in soffe shorts and a tank top. A few brought their own balls, but the majority came empty handed. Eliot waited about ten minutes as the stranglers filed in. In total, there seemed to be maybe fifty, sixty girls. Several he recognized from the yearbook he was given as being on the volleyball team the previous year. It was a small turnout, but it was a small school. There was only one team, and thirteen spots. That meant that a lot of girls were going to be sent home angry.

He was about to start introductions when he spotted a head of familiar black/brown hair near the end of the crowd. What was Tori doing there? Eliot truly had no idea what to think of the girl, and a bout of anger rushed into his head before he rushed to clear it. This was his angle of the con, not hers. Eliot couldn't do anything about it now, since there were at least fifty witnesses. He would deal with it after practice.

Eliot stepped up to the girls and handed a clipboard to the nearest girl for everyone to write their name and year. "I'm Mr. McPherson, your new Volleyball coach. Yall can call me Coach Mac, or Coach. That's it." His southern accent was obvious, and a few girls looked up in surprise. "There's thirteen spots, let'see what we can do. I want my hitters, setters, and libero's t'separate int'a groups…. after runnin' ten laps 'round the courts." A few groans emitted from the girls, but they obliged.

Eliot smiled as he watched them start to run. He had always wanted to have his own team. Not specifically a girl's volleyball team, but he would have to make do.

He watched the girls run around the track. About half way through running, a few slowed down, and even one or two started to walk. After the girl's finished running, he told the ones who didn't complete the run they were cut. Four girls left the court.

"Right, I wanna see what you can do, I want one setter per side o'net, hitters lined up on opposite sides, Libero's, want you to intercept th'balls." The girl's went to their appropriate lines, a few grumbling about the questionable authenticity of his Volleyball background. Tori passed him on her way to the setter's line, and he pulled her aside.

"What the _hell_ are you doin' here?" He hissed, trying to make it look like he was just talking with a random college student.

Tori gave a quick smile, and a shrug. "I was told to blend with the stressed crowd, so I'm blending. What drives you to doing drugs faster that hard classes _and _sports?"

Eliot's face bunched up, and his mouth began to quiver, as though he was about to yell, but he held it in. The girl was right, and since Volleyball was the only girl's sport right now, he couldn't do anything about it. He let her go, but promised himself he would only keep her on the team if she was good enough to actually _be_ on the team.

Tori flashed a victories smile before running off the do the drill. Eliot noticed that she didn't have her earpiece in, and wondered if the others knew she was here.

Eliot watched the girls go through the drill, making marks here and there on his clipboard. There were a few really good hitters, and Tori wasn't a bad setter. He had never realized how short she was until he saw her without heels. Eliot himself wasn't tall for a hitter, being only 5 foot 9, most towered over 6 feet. However, Tori was almost a head and a half shorter than him, she would be talking to his chest if she didn't look up.

Eliot shook his head, trying to clear the new girl from his head. He didn't know why he couldn't stop thinking about her. Even though it wasn't flattering stuff, it still annoyed him. None of them were really sure what she did, other than Nate, and that bugged Eliot to no end, especially since she seems to know who they are. It was even worse that he thought he knew her.

The past two hours went by in a blur. Eliot made the girls do drill after drill, cutting one here, and one there. As of now, he had dismissed fifteen girls. There would be a few more days of tryouts, and then he would have his team. The girls who had been on the team in previous years had been giving off some serious hate waves, and Eliot guessed it was because they didn't get to do what they wanted. Hardison had done some digging, and found out that the past volleyball teams hadn't won a game in 50 years, and some of it had to do with the fact that most of the coaches were horrible.

Eliot had officially ended practice a few minutes ago, and the crowd was starting to disperse. Tori was chatting with a few other juniors over on one of the other nets, seemed like she was able to mingle well. Eliot guessed that most of it had to do with Sophie whispering what to do into her ear. Eliot had to admit she was good. In fact, after the team had come back from Serbia, he called her up asking some advice on how to pick up a girl at a bar he was at that night. And, to say the least, the night ended up going _very_ well.

A group of girls had been chatting at a net close to him for the past few minutes, and a few had even been taking not-so-sneaky glances in his direction. Finally, one broke off from the group and sauntered over to him.

"Hi, coach Mac, I'm Valerie, last year's captain." She held out her hand, and Eliot dutifully shook it. "I just wanted to let you know that there are certain ways that things work around here, and, one of those things is letting me and my girls run the tryouts…"

She left the sentence hanging, allowing Eliot to fill in the blanks himself. The girl was one of the ones who had put on a sour face all practice, and he would have gotten rid of her, if there weren't the small problem of Valerie being such a good Libero. Eliot hesitated before picking the right response. He was playing the teacher, not the badass hitter who didn't care who got hurt. "Well, honey, we saw how well that works the past fifty years, ain't we?" He flashed a smile.

Valerie's grin disappeared, and she crossed her arms. "How do we know that you're _qualified_ for this position? As you implied, the school hasn't exactly picked good coached in the past."

It was Eliot's turn to turn his smile upside down. He had to think about how to react. Did he take the high road, and just shrug it off and make the girl run a few laps, or did he stoop to her level, and accept the hidden challenge? It would be unprofessional to challenge a college player, especially when he was her superior.

"I'll show ya' qualified, darlin'." Eliot took off his jacket, tie, and rolled up his shirtsleeves. Then, he tied his hair into a ponytail, using the ever-there hair band around his wrist. Valerie gave a cocky smile, and took up her position in the middle of the opposite side of one of the nets. Eliot motioned to the closest setter the throw him a ball. Of course, it was just his luck that the setter happened to be Tori. She had a entertained look in her eye as she passed him a ball.

Eliot stood right outside of the right out-of-bounds line on the court, and waited until his setter had taken her position. He bounced the ball a few times. "Nice n'high." He stated, before tossing Tori the ball.

It arced upward until gravity took hold of it, and the ball came slowly downward. It landed in Tori's fingers above her head, and then was back in the air a moment later. Eliot watched the ball, waiting for his timing to be perfect. Then, with a two-step head start, he jumped.

The sound of hand hitting ball echoed around the room as Eliot made contact. The ball sped toward the ground on the opposite end of the net, hitting the floor a half a second before Valerie. The defeated girl lay outstretched on the gym floor, her hand where the ball would have been if she had been just a little bit faster. The few girls that were left in the gym stood with newfound respect in their eyes, while Tori stood there, a disbelieving look on her face.

Eliot rolled down his sleeves before ducking under the net and offering his hand to Valerie. She took it, and was up on her feet in a heartbeat. Her eyes downcast, she waited for the yelling that was sure to happen. Instead, Eliot just gave one of his prize grins. "Now, I can do one of two things. Cut ya' fer disrespectin' me, or give ya' a spot fer followin' through." Valerie looked up, and a weak smile returned to her lips.

Excitement over, the gym quickly emptied, until only the two Leverage members remained. Tori was packing up her stuff, and stopped by Eliot before heading out. "That was a nice spike, 'specially for a trained killer."

"Ya', well, I am a hitter…" If there were such things as hypothetical deaths, Eliot would have just committed suicide. That was so lame, and it seemed like Tori thought so too. "See ya' at practice tomorrow?"

Tori thought a bit before answering. "Yup. It's working. I've been offered three school tours already, and Parker has helped me identify at least four likely users…" She looked as though she wanted to say more, but instead of finishing her thought, she turned and walked out of the gym. Eliot watched her retreating figure until the gym doors closed shut. He then shook his head and gathered up his stuff. This was going to be a _very_ long con.

* * *

**You know the drill by now, I hope.**


	5. Party Like a Rock Star

**Author's Note: Here is the next chapter, hope ya'll enjoy! Thanks to my reviewers and silent stalkers! Summer is finally here, woot! I'm counting down the days until the next season comes on TNT.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Leverage**

* * *

It was approaching evening time, and the Leverage team was slowly assembling in the conference room of their headquarters. Well, everyone but the newest arrival. She was currently in the back of the college library pretending to do a paper for her English class, which Hardison had finished a few days ago. In reality, she was having a video chat with the team through a secure web cam that Hardison had put in her laptop.

Parker was sitting at her normal spot, with Sophie as her neighbor. Both girls were sipping on some sort of drink. Hardison playing around on one of his various laptops, and Eliot was just sitting there, looking bored. Tori's face, which was currently filling up the six panel HD TV's, was switching from looking into the screen and looking around, making sure that the annoying librarian didn't kick her out of the library…again.

It was about three weeks into the school year, and the con was running quite smoothly. Eliot was always busy with his job of coaching a girl's volleyball team _and_ finding a way to get into the circle of the professors at the campus. It hadn't really been that hard, he just targeted the youngest woman who happened to be allowed into the staff lounge, and he was in. With the help of Sophie and Tori, Eliot managed to steer himself into the lives of the professors that Tori and Hardison had calculated to be the ones most likely to be involved in the drug scandal. In fact, he had a meeting with those people after Volleyball practice.

Figuring out the professors wasn't hard. It was mostly Hardison. All he had to do was hack into each of their bank accounts and run backgrounds on all of their transactions over the past years. It was a little more than obvious which ones had gotten a little help in the finance section.

Tori was busy integrating herself into the student life, hanging with all of the students who were overworked and were heading toward failure. Even though it was the beginning of the school year, many of the students had taken summer classes, and even more had been involved in the drug trafficking the year before. It was a little harder figuring out the students that were taking the drugs. Hardison had checked all of the student's bank account, but the money being withdrawn was nowhere near enough to pay the amount the teachers had been receiving. Parker had checked all of the students' dorms and anyplace that could have been used as a hiding place, but there was no trace of the illegal substance.

Hardison had been toying around with the tox screens from both of the girls, but was unable to find a positive match anywhere on the web. That, and a few other facts didn't add up with the scene that they were expecting to unfold before them. Their client had gone home about two weeks ago, but failed to show up at school. Seems that she was still unstable.

These things and more were to be discussed at this little meeting that was called. Everyone was present except for Nate, who came walking nonchalantly into the room. He had a cup of what everyone presumed was alcohol, but was actually tea. He sat down, and turned his attention to the large face that was moving on the screen. "What we got?"

The face smirked, before whispering into the computer. "I've been invited to go to some sort of 'secret' party going on after practice tonight…"

"Good! This is what we've been waiting for." Nate exclaimed, clapping his hands once for theatrics. It just so happened that a few of Eliot's new teacher buddies were getting together for some reason or another at the same time as this party of Tori's. Both meeting places had not been leaked to either of them, but all Hardison needed was a few moments notice to hack into any cameras near the site.

The con had been going on a lot longer than anybody had expected. Everyone was getting a bit antsy, no matter how much they dug they got no further. It seemed as if they were missing a vital piece of information, but no one could take a stab as to what that missing piece was.

Sophie stood up and began to walk around the chairs until she stopped behind Nate's chair. "This has been going on _way_ to long." Her British accent obvious, as well as her concern. "We haven't even figured out what these teachers are selling."

"Excuse me. _I_ haven't been able to figure it out. I haven't seen none of you even ask me if there was somethin' you could do." Hardison corrected Sophie, his arms crossing over his chest.

"We know there is something illegal going on, why can't we just call the cops?" Parker asked the question everyone had wanted to ask. This job seemed like a trivial matter to the team, they were used to dealing with large companies, not messed up professors trying to get a little extra cash by dealing to college kids.

"Because we don't have the whole story figured out yet…something's missing." Nate explained, his words drifting off, his face taking on a troubled expression.

"Jessica passed out in class this morning after drifting in and out all day…" Tori butted into the conversation. Jessica was one of the girls the team had been monitoring. She was usually bright and attentive, but the past few days she had been acting off. In fact, all of the girls that were suspected of taking were.

"It makes sense. They're comin' down from their highs, drug's wearin' off." Eliot spoke up, once again showing off his knowledge of drugs.

"But it still doesn't explain why all the drug drop-offs are on the same day, at the same time every month." That was another thing that they had been monitoring. Going back to the past year, it was obvious. There were no abnormalities in the drug drop-offs, that being an abnormality in itself.

Tori opened her mouth to say something, but made a face instead as a loud and very annoying voice filled the background. "Gotta go." She stated before severing the connection. Seemed like the librarian found her latest hiding place.

"Ok, so…where you going?" Nate changed direction mid-sentence as Eliot abruptly got up and started walking toward the front door. He paused and turned around, hands going through the motions to tie up his hair.

"I got practice in, like, five minutes." With that, he exited the scene, leaving behind a perturbed Nate and slightly amused crew.

* * *

Turned out, the big party that Tori was invited to seem like just that – a big party. There were at least a hundred kids all packed into the large warehouse. Some local band was standing on a makeshift stage on near one of the walls, playing music that seemed like a mix between screamo and rap. Alcohol was being passed around, it was mostly beer. Tori had declined every offer until she started to get strange looks. Then she grabbed a small bottle and took small sips out of it every once in a while, determined to make it last. She was more of a wine person, but it didn't seem like there would be any at this particular party.

She had stuck with the group that she was suppose to keep an eye on for about five minutes after entering the building. Then, as luck would have it, they started to migrate in all different directions, until Tori was left to defend herself.

There hadn't been any shape or form of a security system installed in the warehouse, so Hardison had Parker slip into the building sometime before the party got real wild and directed her on where to stash them. Nate also instructed Parker to hang low and help Tori keep an eye on their presumed druggies.

With the security system in place, and an orange soda in hand, Hardison sat in the conference room of the headquarters, ready for whatever would be thrown at him. Nate and Sophie were also in the room; Nate because he was the head of the operation, and Sophie because she was too old to fit in at a College party.

* * *

Eliot was also playing his part, pretending to be the gym teacher with a low salary and even lower bank statement. He had been able to integrate himself into the 'poor' crowd pretty well, with some tips from Sophie and a whole lot of yelling into the phone at his 'tax collectors', aka Hardison. The hitter was currently at one of the professors' apartments in a small condominium complex in the rougher side of town. He and about five others were sitting around, sipping on cheap soda and awaiting some sort of signal that it was ok to precede. Eliot was confused as it was, no drug deal that he had ever heard of (or been a part of) had ever worked like this, on both the sending and receiving side.

A phone rang in the background, and the owner of the house ran to pick up the phone. Several minutes later he came back into the main room and gave the ok.

The adults divided themselves into two groups, each group taking a different car. Eliot found himself stuffed in the back of a Honda Civic between two of the others. The car ride was not the most comfortable of transportations, but he made it alive. They drove for about twenty minutes, until the cars arrived in an empty parking lot. Then, they all shuttled out of the car, and stood in the cool night air for several minutes until another car arrived at the scene. No one said a word, and most of the teachers looked scared to death. Eliot guessed that none of them had ever broken the law before. He didn't want to risk talking into his comm, so he stayed quiet.

A man got out of the car that had approached the professors, and he walked toward them. He was carrying a suitcase that looked the right size to be carrying drugs. Eliot had a fleeting thought that now would be the best time to attack the man and forcefully take away the package, but he decided against it. That was something the old Eliot would have done. The new Eliot would sit tight and wait for the con to unravel itself.

The man began to talk to the man that Eliot had made out to be the leader of the little lawbreaking group. He was a physics professor who had lost his house and his wife due to money issues. He handed the man from the car a stack of blue folders, and was given the suitcase in exchange. The man from the car went back to said car, and disappeared.

Eliot excused himself, blaming his 'bad bladder', before running behind a tree at the edge of the parking lot to relay information. "License plate number NYP 782. He was handed some blue folders 'fore handin' over the drugs."

"Got it," Hardison's voice came seconds later. "Hold up, this doesn't make sense. Car's licensed to a small, local pharmaceutical company."

"What's that mean?" Eliot questioned, his brain racing. This defiantly had another spin to it.

Nate's voice entered Eliot's head seconds later. "It means that you _need_ to get your hands on some of those drugs." His voice seemed distant to Eliot, like he was trying to figure something out. Eliot took that as a kind of dismissible, and huffed before going back to join the others. He gave a small smile and a nod, showing that everything was ok.

The professor who was holding the suitcase made the first move toward the two parked cars. He gently placed the suitcase under the passenger seat before jumping into the drivers seat. The rest of the teachers slowly followed, and Eliot got a funny picture in his head. "They're l_i_ke sheep."

Several 'Shhh-es' stopped him from saying anything else, but he hit the mark. A snort came over his comm, followed by a laugh. Seems like Hardison and Parker thought so, too.

Once the cars were all full, the engines started, and they left the parking lot. The cars began to go exactly where the team thought they would go. The warehouse.

* * *

"What's going on?" Tori had been drifting around for the past several hours, dancing with random guys, checking up on the girl's she was suppose to keep an eye on, and waiting for Eliot and the other Professors to show up with the drugs. She had paid attention to the comm chatter for the first hour, until she figured out that most of it was just that; chatter. So she had tuned it out. However, it seems like they were talking about something important now instead of the difference between Dr. Pepper and Mr. Pibb.

"On their way." Hardison relayed the information before Eliot had a chance to. A small growl also made its way into her ear, but Tori was pretty sure it was aimed more toward the people in the car instead of the Leverage team.

She nodded, before remembering that Hardison couldn't see her in the mob of people, and covered it up by making a small noise that indicated that she understood.

Parker also got the message, made her way to the door, slipped out of the party, and stowed herself away in some hidden area where all the cars were parked to watch for the professors to arrive. She didn't have to wait long. The two cars arrived a few minutes after she had situated herself outside of the warehouse. The professors got out of the cars, and dialed a few numbers.

Inside the warehouse, Tori started to watch as one by one the girls and guys she arrived with slowly left the room. Valerie walked up to her, and yelled, trying to be heard above the pounding music. "Let's go!"

Tori nodded, and began to follow the girl as she weaved through the crowd, heading toward the door. On her way out, Tori threw the half-filled bottle of beer she had been holding on to the past few hours into a overfilling garbage can on her way out.

Once she got outside, she had to stop for a moment to allow her ears and eyes to get used to the quiet night sky. She tried not to look at Eliot, and Eliot tried not to look at her. The group of students that had pooled outside seemed jittery and small compared to the confidence they had showed earlier that night.

Hardison had Parker set up a few cameras outside just for this reason. The groups were on the edge of one of the cameras he had put up, so the team members that were at the office were able to watch as the drugs were handed out.

* * *

At Headquarters, Nate watched the film on the six screens TV as the teachers opened the suitcase and pulled out a bag of pills. The professors slowly counted out a specific number of pills before dealing them out to the students. The students, in turn, gave them nothing. No check, no cash not even a piece of paper. Nate started to see the pieces fall into place. "Hardison, you said that car belonged to a local pharmaceutical company, right?"

"Yeah, hasn't been reported stolen, and neither has any of their products." Hardison brought up the companies website, along with searching through the police and FBI database, looking for any calls made to the law enforcers from any numbers coming out of the company.

As Nate watched the transfers take place, everything clicked. The blue folders, the pharmaceutical car, the unknown drug, and the strange money flow. Nate blew out a long stream of air before announcing his find. "They're using the kids as lab rats."

* * *

**Dun Dun Dun.....mwahaha**

**Until next time.**


	6. 30 minutes

**Author's Note: Alright! Almost at the end, hang in there! You get some good Parkerness in this one, and I promise some Eliot-kicking-ass in the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Hah! That's funny.**

* * *

It was two in the morning when the others finally filtered in from the warehouse party and drug masquerade. Parker was the first to return, followed by Tori, and finally Eliot. Tori had stopped by a gas station on the way to the office, and brought with her almost fifty dollars worth of energy drinks. She had passed them out once she sat down, she figured everyone needed to be awake for a little while longer, especially after the new information that they just figured out.

Once the whole team was situated in the conference room, Hardison and Nate began to outline what was really going on behind the scenes. Eliot's fake bank account had already been credited a small amount of money. Nothing near the amount the other teachers were getting, but then again, he hadn't exactly given the company anything in return.

The six-paneled TV screen came to life, and Hardison began talking. "Floyd's Pharmaceuticals. Small, locally owned. Did all their testin' on animals." Pictures of the company, along with some furry animals showed up on the screen. Angry looking people waving signs that protested using animals as test subjects soon replaced those pictures. "Some angry protestors were able to persuade the local judge to ban animal testing at the plant."

"It's a basic principle. The company's too poor to give real drug trials, so they chose some college professors to illegally administer the untested drugs. Pay the teachers to record the kids reactions, and save millions of dollars the company didn't have to spend." Nate finished up the speech. That was why nothing was falling into place. It was a local company that was barely getting by with what they made from sales. Then, when they are told they are not allowed to use animals to test their products, they have nowhere left to turn. For real human trials, you have to pay all these fees, spend all this money; money that they don't have. So instead, they target underpaid people who have direct links to teens and young adults, the perfect age to run a trial on. The company's only problem was that the drug had horrible, life-threatening side affects.

"This is a lot bigger than we thought." Sophie decided to point out. "I'm all for taking down the company, but how?"

"We need to withdraw from the College and go after the heart of the problem." Nate explained.

Eliot frowned at this suggestion. "They know my face, you'll have no protection. How do you know they aren't trigger happy?"

"We don't What we do know is we made a promise to a family that we would find out what was wrong with their daughter, and make it right." Nate stood up from his chair and began to pace around the room. His brain was working overtime. To hit this company, they needed to move fast. A long-term con would be too risky, and Eliot was right. If they got into any sort of physical fight, the Hitter wouldn't be there to bail them out.

Hardison took a moment out of the discussion to raise his hand. "Uh, does anyone else find this just a _little _disturbin'?...no?....just me."

"We could just rob them." Parker piped, a sly grin growing onto her face.

They could just rob the company. But that wasn't how Nate liked to do things. He wanted Floyd's pharmaceuticals to pay. After all, their team was about getting revenge for people who were unable to get revenge themselves, right? Plus, there wasn't any sense of urgency in the air. They had spent a long time at the college, and Nate knew the team was getting restless, but by switching up the characters, hopefully they would be able to get back in the game.

"We are going to make them wish they were robbed." Nate replied as he watched everyone smile get a little bigger. Sophie's most of all. The plan formulating in Nate's head would include most all of them, and Sophie would be able to go back to center stage.

"What about the professors at Westminister? Are we going to let them just walk away from this?" Tori spoke up.

"No," Hardison decided to explain this one. "If the company falls, soon enough the trail will lead back to them…I'll make sure o'that." He smiled, and flexed his fingers, imitating typing on a keyboard. Eliot just rolled his eyes at Hardison's theatrics.

One of the phones began to ring, and Sophie excused herself to go answer it. Any call that was made at two in the morning had to be important.

"Still too risky. This company's willin' to illegally drug teens, why wouldn't they be willin' to 'deal with' people who try to uncover it?" Once again, the Hitter had a point. They had no idea how dangerous this company was.

"We can't just sit and do nothing!" This time, it was Parker who spoke up against Eliot. Soon, Tori and Hardison joined in, and the group of thieves was yelling at each other. Nate just sat back and watched it all, to deep in thought bother. Danger never stopped them before, so why was it brought up as a problem now? He remembered what Tori had pointed out that morning he met her. _"I'll provide the much needed glue…"_ Were they really that close to falling apart?

Sophie came back into the room, and stared at the rest of the team as they carried on with their arguing. Her face was almost chalk white, as if she had seen a ghost, and her eyes were tearing up. Slowly, the team stopped arguing as they noticed her standing there. "Sophie?" Hardison asked, him being the first to notice that she had rejoined them.

"That was Mr. Batten…" Sophie paused to swallow and gather her words. "Their daughter…she…. her heart stopped…. she's dead."

Everyone stared at her, the reality of the words taking a moment to sink in. The drug was now officially _killing_. Which meant that something, anything, had to be done. And quickly.

"Doctor's sure it was the drug?" Nate asked, even though he already knew the answer. This new even meant that they did not have enough time to run a con on the company, who knew how many of the others would die while they establish themselves.

"Of course! What the hell else would it be?" Sophie replied. She couldn't believe that poor girl was dead. Sophie had seen her at the hospital, looking so pale, so weak. There were tons of flowers in that hospital bed; the girl was obviously well liked. And now she was gone, all because some company saw themselves on top of the world.

Nate opened his mouth, but hesitated, not sure if he wanted to say it or not. But the words finally worked themselves out into the air. "Ok Parker. What do you need."

They were going to rob Floyd's Pharmaceuticals.

* * *

Forty-eight hours later, they were ready to go.

Ever since Nate had said those fateful six words, Parker had taken over. She had everyone running around, grabbing this, doing that. She had Hardison pull up all the blueprints ever made for the building, along with the plans for the sewage lines that ran underneath it. Hardison was also in charge of getting live video feeds. The company did one smart thing by making their camera's close circuit. Hardison had to get in the physical building to be able to hack into their feeds. Eliot was sent to 'retrieve' things, such as suction cups, duck tape, nylon string, and several other odds and ends. Sophie was in charge of giving them an entry point, which boiled down to distracting the guards on duty long enough for Hardison and Parker to get into the building. Tori and Nate locked themselves in Nate's office and tried to figure out the one place that the information about this illegal trial would be kept. According to Hardison, something this big would not be lying around on some scientist's computer, just waiting to be hacked into and stolen. No, they were dealing with old school paper.

A few other problems that the team would encounter. The cameras were set up so that the system would reboot every thirty minutes on the dot. Which meant that even though Hardison could feed a loop, they would have a little under half an hour to get in, find the papers, and get out. Tori and Nate had successfully found the file room where the information was most likely stored. The problem; there was no camera in the room. In fact, the room was located in a natural dead zone, which meant that neither cell phones nor comms would work. There was, however, a camera pointing directly at the door to the file room.

All of this information and more had been taken into consideration, and the team was ready to go.

A black van pulled into the parking lot of Floyd's Pharmaceuticals, parking in one of the front parking spaces. It wasn't hard to find a good space, it was almost eleven o'clock at night, and not many people were in the building. Actually, there were exactly twelve men in the building. Ten of which were regular night watchmen. The other two were hired men, who, according to Eliot's expertise, were probably there to make sure nothing like what they were about to do would happen.

Sophie was the first to step on the playing field. She was dressed in exotic looking attire. Originally, Nate had wanted her to go in pretending to be a one of the 'squids', but Sophie had firmly resented that, and instead chose to pretend to be someone so unreal that they would have to believe it. Her dress was form fitting and went to her knees. It was covered in sequins and shiny things, Parker had to be restrained when she saw it (Sophie promised to give her the dress when the whole ordeal was over, and that solved that problem).

She walked through the front doors of the building and straight up to the front desk, where there were three men. These men were looking at screens that were hidden behind the desk. Turned out there was also another security room, but those feeds came mostly from the restricted areas of the building. That was where the hired guys were most likely hiding.

The night guards looked up as Sophie approached them, and looked quite surprised when she began to speak rapidly in a foreign language.

"Bonjour ! Comment allez-vous des idiots ce soir ? Au cas où vous vous demandiez, je suis un grifter, et moi et mes amis sont ici pour vous voler. Isn' ; t qui merveilleux ? Je me tiens dedans comme distraction ainsi vous trois celane notera-t- pas mon ami partir furtivement par les portes latérales, fonctionne-t-cela ?" Sophie moved her arms with the language, enticing the guards. She paused only to take a breath, and then continued speaking. The three men were too busy trying to find a way to communicate with the woman long enough not to notice a certain hacker sneak through the side entrance and slip into the 'mainframe' room.

Once Hardison was inside, he quickly got to work. There were wires everywhere, spouting from every which way. He grabbed his wires and silently and precisely placed them around the correct wires until he had hacked into all the cameras that were vital to the break-in. Next, he recorded the empty halls for about a minute, then started to play the loop. The screens in the back of the Leverage van came to life with the real time footage of what was actually going on inside the building. "Locked an' loaded"

"I'm in position." Parker's voice followed Hardison's, letting the team know she too as ready. The thief was currently waiting snuggly in the buildings ventilation system in the hallway that the file room was located in. She was unable to get any closer due to the fact that the passage shrunk considerably in size up ahead.

"Alright Sophie, leave them be." Sophie smiled at the guards, who were currently looking up the Dummy's Guide To French on the Internet. She giggled into her hand, and then quickly blurted out, still in French, that she had to leave and was sorry for the intrusion. She then turned and slowly left the building, leaving behind three very confused night guards.

* * *

The moment that Sophie's first heel stepped foot outside the building, Nate gave the ok to proceed. Parker, anxiously awaiting the go-ahead, began her decent. She had already removed the four bolts on the corner of the grate below her, and was slowly removing it. Once clear, and after checking in with Hardison about guard location, she lowered herself out of the vent. Her hands were placed firmly on either side of the opening. She began with her feet, and continued until her whole body was vertical with the ground. Then she let go of the metal with her hands, and hit the floor with a dull thud. She straightened out, and paused only long enough to wave at the small camera in the corner, before walking down to where the file room was located.

She spent several seconds in picking the lock, and then gave a thumbs-up at the camera before entering. Parker knew that she only had around 20 minutes. She also knew that she would get absolutely no help in the room whatsoever. She took a deep breath before entering the room. The site that awaited her could only be described in one word. "Shit."

The room was filled to the brim with files. There were orange files, yellow files, blue files. They looked to be in no particular order what so ever. There could have been at least 500, maybe more. A few piles looked as if they were threatening to fall over, and a few of them already had. All in all, it was the perfect place to hide something that someone didn't want found. It could take anywhere between three minutes to three days to locate the specific records Parker was looking for. She let out a long, frustrated breath, and said a regretful apology to her fingertips for the paper cuts they were about to endure before diving in to the closest pile.

* * *

Hardison let out yet another large puff of air, allowing his annoyance and impatience to show…again. He had been watching the monitors for the past twenty-some minutes, and nothing was happening. Parker hadn't moved from the file room. Apparently she was having a little bit of trouble. Which meant that Hardison got the job of watching the mindless security guards making their mindless rounds. He was wishing so bad that he had installed one of his computer games on the particular computer he was using, but knew that he wouldn't have been able to play it anyway. Somehow, Nate would freakishly know that he was playing it; it was like the man had spidey senses or something.

"Hardison, stay focused." There he goes! Hardison subconsciously sat up straighter, and looked around the dark, wired filled room before focusing once again on the cameras. Parker's time was almost up. They had left her two minutes before the system reset to get up and into the air ducts, preferably out of the building. They were coming upon the five-minute mark, and her comm signal still hadn't shown up, nor had her form popped up on the camera directly outside the room. However, none of the team had started to sweat. If there was one thing Parker likes, it was cutting it close.

* * *

This time, though, Parker didn't have a choice. In fact, she was currently searching through the next pile in one of the many lines in the small room. She had been unable to find anything related to their case at all. She was about half way back in the small storage room, and if anything, the piles seemed to be growing bigger as she went. She had cut her fingers several times due to a poorly placed, very sharp edged piece of paper.

Parker leaned back to take a small break and looked at her watch. There were four minutes left now. She sighed, and once again began to rifle through the papers. She felt like giving up, there was no way she was going to find them. It was the first time in a long time that the professional thief actually wished she had brought someone along with her to help her steal something. Another pile down, five bazillion to go.

Three minutes. Parker should have been vacating the premises by now, but she was still searching, now somewhat frantically. She would never become a receptionist.

Two minutes. Parker had abandoned the thorough search of every file. Instead, she just skimmed her eyes down the pile, hoping that if what they were looking for was in there, she would somehow catch sight of it.

One minute. She gave up, and walked toward the door. She glanced at a pile as she began to turn the knob and backtracked. There it was! A stack of blue folders with the names of the College students printed on them. She picked them up and stuffed the files into her bag before once again going to the door.

Three

Parker listened, her ear up to the door to make sure that the hallway was empty.

Two

She placed her hand on the knob and began to turn it.

One

The alarms all of a sudden were blazing in her ear, and Parker caught herself right before she went to open the door. She heard the sound of footsteps outside the door, and she knew that whatever she did outside the room would be caught on tape. She also knew that sooner or later the guards would decide to check the closet. Parker was trapped.

Nate had tried to get Hardison to abandon the wire room when they got down to the three-minute mark, but the Hacker had refused. There was no way that he was going to leave the building when Parker was still trapped inside.

The alarms had been sounded when the guards staring at the monitors saw someone in the wire room who hadn't been able there a second ago. When the guards had gone and handcuffed Hardison, the monitors in the van had shut off, leaving the rest of the team with two of their friends stuck in an armed-to-the-teeth building and no inside eyes.

But they had Eliot.

* * *

**If any of you are wondering what Sophie was saying to the guards, she was speaking in French. (Evil smirk.)**


	7. Rescue Mission

**Author's Note: This is the penultimate chapter! (that means second to last, for those of you who don't know.) You can thank SiriusDoctorWhoHoney329 for the speedy update. This was, personally, my favorite chapter to write, so I hope it is your favorite to read. You get some ass-kicking by both Eliot and Tori, plus a little Parker mischief. **

**Disclaimer: As if.**

* * *

There was about a second or two of silence after all connections had been severed before everyone began to take action. Eliot, knowing that he would have to go in after the two, began to quickly grab the knives he brought with him out of his backpack and into his boots, sleeves, and other various areas. Tori was hitting random buttons on the computers, trying to see if anything would work because person who was suppose to have that job was currently a little bit occupied. Nate, his finger pressed hard into his ear, was trying to get something from Hardison. All that any of the team could hear on their earpieces was static, and a very loud alarm. Nate was pretty sure Hardison was trying to contact him, but all he could here was the hackers voice, he was unable to make out any syllables. He called Hardison's name several times, but stopped when he heard yelling in the background. It was followed by a Hardison-sounding yell, then a loud squeal shook through their ears. He didn't have to give any orders to Eliot, he was already suited up. The hitter was pulling one of his famous beanies over his head, and was reaching for the latch on the back of the van door.

"I'm going with you." Tori stated, causing Eliot's hand to hesitate over the handle. He glanced backward, angry that they had to have this conversation now. Two of _his_ friends were caught in a building where people with guns were parading around. Eliot didn't have many friends.

"No." He growled out his response, clearly taking no time in replying.

"No, Eliot, she's right. Take her with you." Nate spoke up. He had weighed the pros and cons in his head long before the con had gone down. He knew what Tori could do, and while she wasn't as good with cracking skulls as Eliot was, she was the second best on the team.

"What?" Eliot's voice was almost squeaky, if you could imagine a bear squeak. Tori had smiled at Nate's response, and had started to arm herself as well. Except, instead of pulling knifes out of her backpack, she was pulling guns. And tazers. And throwing knives. And more guns.

Eliot yanked open the door and jumped out of the back of the van. He knew the vehicle had been positioned so that the parking lot cameras would not spot anyone getting in and out of the van. He needed enough space to stand up, he found himself to be much more intimidating while at his full height. "I don't trust her." Each word came out as its own sentence, Eliot stabbing his finger at Tori to backup his point.

Tori raised her eyebrow and shrugged before jumping out of the van to join him. "Don't have to." She replied, cocking a good-sized handgun before weighing it in her hand.

"I'm not jumpin' into a' fight while worryin' about that trigger bein' aimed at me." He switched his finger from Tori to the gun that the said woman was holding.

Nate shook his head. "There is one of you and twelve guards. I know you can take them by yourself, but what about with two unarmed and possibly hurt people?" He had a point. Eliot, wanting to argue further, but knowing that time was of the essence, settled with slamming the van door before walking, very fast, toward the front of the building. He knew he was acting slightly childish, but it was his ass on the line, not Nate's.

Tori ran a few steps to catch up with him, a click clack sound following her as she walked. Eliot looked down to her feet and noticed she was wearing boots…with heels. Not the skinny points she wore to the office, but heels none-the-less. "Unbelievable"

"Sorry?" Tori asked, full well hearing what Eliot had mumbled. The hitter, however, shrugged it off. They were getting close to the building. The two ran across the narrow strip of asphalt that came before the sidewalk. All of their clothes were black, and they hoped that the guards inside were too concerned with finding the perps inside to worry about the retrieval team. They got to the front entrance and flattened themselves on the wall next to the glass welcome doors. Eliot took this time to take his earwig out, and motioned for Tori to do the same. Confused, but curious, the woman complied.

"You listen ta' me. Those _are my_ friends lives on the line– " Eliot started.

"Look, hard-ass. You can lecture me later, after _our_ teammates are safe and I'm not holding a loaded gun, ya' hear?" She promptly stuck the earpiece back in, ending the conversation.

Eliot was taken aback. He was insulted that she would claim that he cared more about her not being there than his frie– no, teammates, being safe. But she was right. Crack skulls now, verbal beating later. The hitter let out a deep breath, and closed his eyes, waiting for Nate to give the green light. The intruder alarm was still blaring. They probably had only a few more minutes until it was turned off.

"Clear." Nate gave the signal. Both Eliot and Tori stepped forward, placing themselves in a direct line of sight. Both took in the two guards in the front room, one near the door, the other scanning the monitors frantically. Before Eliot had a chance to charge through the door, Tori raised her gun and fired a whole round into the glass double doors.

Apparently, the doors weren't bullet proof. Another alarm sounded, adding more confusion to the mix. The guard standing close to the door ducked for cover an instant to late, getting shattered with broken glass. Eliot flinched, his hands instinctively reaching up to cover his face. "What the hell…" He drifted off, words growing more louder as they passed.

"Another alarm to add to the chaos. Plus, wasn't like they wouldn't have known we were here." Tori explained the unsaid question, dropping out her empty clip and replacing it with a new one. Eliot decided not to react and ran forward, grabbing the guard at the security screens before he had recovered from the shock and grabbed his gun. A swift punch to the gut, followed by an elbow to the throat had him unconscious before he hit the floor. Eliot looked back, and told Nate what had happened, before stopping to check the monitors. He was sure that Parker was still in the file room, but he was searching for Hardison. After a few moments, he found the hacker in an empty room that looked like it was used for storage. It was in the opposite hallway as Parker was, but the Hitter quickly decided to go after the thief first. No one knew she was there. Yet. He let Nate know Hardison's position, then advanced down the hallway that would lead to the file room. Tori carefully stepped over the broken glass, leaning down to check on the guard who had been by the front door. She rolled the guy over to find him lying in a puddle of blood, an entry wound from a bullet directly in the middle of his right eye. The woman smiled before turning the quickly cooling body over. She then stood up and joined Eliot down the hallway. Two down, ten to go.

* * *

Back in the van, things weren't any better. Nate, upset that he had no visual, was constantly demanding updates from Tori and Eliot. Sophie just sat quietly, listening to the noise. She had been contemplating something ever since Nate had sent the other two out to retrieve their missing teammates. "You sure it was a good idea to send them by themselves?"

Obviously they could handle themselves; that Sophie knew. The problem was handling each other.

* * *

Eliot and Tori advanced silently down the hallway. According to the plans that Tori had been staring at for the past several hours, the door that Parker was enclosed behind was one hallway over, half way down. They could get there fast enough, as long as they didn't encounter any roadblocks along the way. They came to the end of the hallway, and paused. Eliot, out in front, stuck his head out around the corner, and quickly withdrew it, a curse ripe on his lips.

"There's two more round the corner, 'bout ten feet, leanin' on the right wall." Eliot whispered to Tori, who stood behind him. She nodded, and looked at her gun. She could take them both out before they knew what was happening, but that wouldn't be any fun. She held up a finger, signaling for the Hitter to wait a moment, and reached into her right boot. From there, she withdrew a small, compact tazer, which could be shot from a distance of up to twelve feet, perfect for what she was aiming to do. Tori stashed the gun in the back of her waistband, after clicking the safety on. Checking to make sure that the tazer was armed and ready, she signaled back to Eliot that she was ready to go. The man, starting to catch on to her idea, grinned and nodded. He may not trust the girl, but she knew how to inject excitement into situations.

With their back against the wall, Eliot slowly counted down from five using his fingers. As the last finger fell down, Tori stepped in front of Eliot and out into the open, firing her weapon at the closest guard. The barbs at the end of the coils imbedded themselves into the guard, and his scream was cut short by a heel connecting with his jaw. With the second guard focused on Tori, Eliot had come up behind him and wrapped his arm around his neck, catching the man in a half nelson. He then kicked the back of the guards kneecap out with his boot, and forced the man to the ground. Eliot had tightened his grip on his opponent, waiting until the lack of oxygen caused him brain to shut down.

Tori leaned down over the man she had knocked out and checked for a pulse. It was still there. Sighing, she replaced the tazer, now empty, into her boot and withdrew her gun once again. She clicked the safety off and aimed at the man's head. As she was pulling the trigger, Eliot jumped up, leaving his guard on the ground, and violently pushed her arm out of the way. The bullet entered the hallway wall instead of the unconscious guard's head. "What the _hell _are you thinkin'?" Eliot hissed from between his teeth. His eyebrows were knitted in disbelief, and his fingers were tightening themselves around Tori's arm. He could knock her out and leave her here, or just kill her. Both seemed like a good idea, seeing that she almost killed an unarmed man who was unable to defend himself.

Tori's gaze drifted from his eyes to his hand back to his eyes again. Her steel gaze met his angry one. "He saw us. Both of them did. You want someone knocking at our door? Killing seemed perfectly acceptable."

"That's _not_ killin', that's murder." Eliot fought off the instinct to yell. He couldn't believe that Nate didn't talk to her about killing their enemies. However, he never talked to Eliot about it, but the man did have morals. It was starting to seem like this girl had none.

Tori yanked her arm, attempting to release his grip. It didn't work directly, but Eliot noticed that he was still gripping her tightly, and let go. She rubbed her arm for a few seconds, a hand-shaped bruise already forming. She opened her mouth to retaliate, but Nate's voice broke through their argument.

"I'm blind here, fill me in."

They both competed in a short staring competition before Eliot responded. "Four down, we're closin' in on Parker." He wouldn't talk to Nathan, not yet. He had to get proof. There were many men who ended up getting unnecessarily hurt because they underestimated their opponent. Nate, apparently satisfied by Eliot's response, failed to ask any more questions. Once again alone, Eliot and Tori took a few minutes to drag the two guards off to the side so that no one would trip over them if they came running through the hallway.

"Let's keep moving." Tori spoke up at last, taking the lead. Eliot followed closely behind, paying attention to not only the buildings layout, but to Tori as well. The strange feeling he had about her had never gone away, and what he had witnessed made it feel even stronger.

* * *

It was only seconds later that the blaring alarms ceased. The sudden quietness of it all caused the rescue party to stop and pause for a moment, allowing the ringing in their ears to slowly decrease. Once hearing was back to normal, Tori and Eliot advance forward, a bit more silently than before. They stopped at a corner that turned to the hallway where the file room was. Tori was about to stick her head around the corner to see if it was clear, when she hesitated. From the look on Eliot's face, he too heard the multiple footsteps coming their way. The man was about to open his mouth to formulate a plan when Tori held her finger up, asking for silence. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the footsteps. Seconds later she opened her eyes and held up three fingers, representing the number of guards heading their way. Eliot's eye opened slightly in amazement, even he couldn't do that.

"Keep 'em busy, I'll go around the back." Tori had been staring at the blueprints of the building for hours, and had the plans ingrained in her mind. Even if she had been looking at them for ten or fifteen minutes, she still would have been able to remember that there was another hallway directly connected to the one that the guards were currently walking down. If Eliot would be able to distract them long enough, she would be able to run around the back, and the two would assault from both sides.

The Hitter hesitated, not sure if he wanted to trust Tori to back him up. But the image of a hurt Parker of Hardison was weighing heavily on his mind, and he nodded in agreement. He stared at Tori's withdrawing form as she slipped around a separate corner. Once out of sight, Eliot breathed heavily, waiting for the guards to get close enough to be susceptible to close combat. As they sounded in range, he jumped around the corner, and, shoulder down, ran straight into the center of the bunch. Caught off guard, the three missed some steps, and tumbled onto the floor, Eliot going with them.

Eliot was not as confused as his opponents were, and was quick to elbow a man under him in the nose. A cry came from that man, and Eliot's clothing was covered in some blood. He then rolled out of the heap and jumped to his feet in time to see one of the guards running at him with a gun in his hand. Eliot lunged forward and grabbed the man's wrist, snapping it and grabbing the gun before he had a time to shoot. Unbalanced, the guard was an easy target as Eliot used the butt of the gun to knock the man unconscious. There were two more to take care of, and Eliot turned to see the man with the broken nose throw a punch at him. With minimal time to react, Eliot dodged, but not fast enough. The hand made contact with the middle of his head, and Eliot's head snapped back. He backtracked a few steps, the balanced himself. As he drew his head back up, another fist made contact with his face, this time on his right eye. Eliot grunted as his head once more snapped back. Bringing his head forward, Eliot was ready for the next punch, and caught the man's hand in mid-attack. He watched as the smile slowly faded from the man's face as Eliot punched him in the nose again, breaking the bone in another spot. Still holding into the bleeding man's hand, Eliot delivered two more punched and a kick to the stomach, all in quick succession, before twisting his arm, causing the shoulder joint to dislocate. The man cried out in pain, then crumpled as Eliot promptly forced the joint back in.

Eliot turned to deal with the third guard, but was stopped. About five feet away, the third guard was standing, aiming his weapon directly at Eliot's head. This man obviously had some training, since he was standing far enough away to the point where even if Eliot lunged, there was enough time for the gun to be shot before he would be able to stop it. He slowly raised his hands in defeat, buying time to find a way out. His head hurt like hell, and wouldn't stop pounding. He could feel his right eye already swelling, and was pretty sure that he had broken his left hand when punching the guy in the nose. He should have remembered never to punch someone in the nose with an unprotected fist, but the invitation was too tempting. He stared coolly into the guard's eyes, silently daring him to make a mistake. The guard smirked, and took a step forward when he paused, his eyes growing large. His body jolted a bit, before suddenly collapsing, the gun sliding from his hand. Eliot looked form the body to the hallway, and found Tori standing where the guard had just been, yet another tazer in her hand.

"What took ya so damn long?" Eliot exclaimed roughly as he bent over to retrieve the gun. He unassembled the gun and threw the pieces back onto the floor. Tori smiled and reloaded her tazer.

"You had everything under control." She gestured to the two unconscious and bloody men on the floor. Tori then stepped over the bodies and continued down the hallway. "Come on!" She called, jogging down the hallway. Eliot dutifully followed, knowing that their struggle had to of been heard or seen by the tapes, and that there were at least four or five more guards on site.

* * *

It took them under a minute to get to the door where Parker was being held. Tori shot the camera out before getting in range. Both were pretty sure the cameras had picked up their faces elsewhere, but there were no harm in being sure. Eliot walked up close and placed his face on the door. "Parker, it's me! Open up!" Eliot called through the door. A click was heard, and the door was unlocked. It opened a few seconds later, and Parker came out, several blue folders in hand.

She took one look at Tori, then at Eliot, with his swollen eye and bleeding hand. "What took so long?"

* * *

The threesome advanced down the final hallway, Parker now in possession of a gun. They had met no further resistance having Parker scout out ahead. Eliot's headache was increasing, and it was causing his movements to become slightly sluggish. He told everyone that he could still fight, but with Hardison's life on the line, no one wanted to take that chance.

The group finally arrived outside of the control room where they believed Hardison to be held hostage. Parker listened to the door for a few seconds, her body flat against the wall. "Sounds like there are two guards inside, along with Hardison."

Tori and Eliot nodded, and Parker stepped back, giving Eliot sufficient room to do what he needed. They had voted long before for the scare tactic; seeing that everyone already knew there were invaders inside of the building.

Eliot stiffened his shoulder and ran into the door. It groaned in protest, but swung open. Eliot stumbled, not expecting for the door to open that easy, but Parker and Tori covered him. The two shot several warning shots into the ceiling, enough to frighten the guards. Eliot had recovered quickly and delivered an uppercut into the first guards chin, causing his to crumple on site. He was too slow, however, to reach the second guard before he had gotten a shot out of his gun. The bullet contacted with Tori's side, grazing the side of her chest. She grunted, but fired back before Eliot was able to reach him. The man fell, grabbing his leg in agony. Eliot put him to sleep with a swift kick.

The immediate danger over, Tori dropped her gun and placed her hand on her side, pressing hard to stop the bleeding. Parker had run over to where Hardison was tied to a chair, and had quickly begun to untie him. The Hacker looked unhurt by the situation, only dazed. "Thought you'd never find me." He said and Parker undid his wrists. Hardison began to move his hands, allowing the blood to swiftly return.

Eliot checked to make sure that Parker and Hardison were ok before walking over to see if Tori was all right. She shook her head as he approached. She lifted her shirt to survey the damage, and found out that the bullet had only skimmed the surface, no long-term damage. "I'm fine, let's get out of here."

Eliot nodded, and gathered up the others. He radioed in to Nate and Sophie, allowing them to know that everyone was ok, and to start up the engines. He then checked the hallway before motioning for the others to follow him. Tori took up the rear, one hand positioned on her side, the other holding a gun. The group of four swiftly made it out to the foyer, and out the front door. Hardison and Tori continued to the van. Eliot went to follow them, but bent down to look at the guard that had fallen when Tori had shot the glass doors. He rolled the bloody body over to see a bullet hole directly through the man's eye. There was no way that it was an accident, Tori was aiming for the man. That strange, bad feeling returned to him in a full wave, and Eliot turned the body back over before mentioning for Parker to leave. The thief had a scary smile on her face, and Eliot found out why when a large explosion sounded from the back of the building in the direction of the file room.

"When in doubt, C-4!" The thief said before running to the van. Eliot shook his head and took one last glance at the dead body before walking toward the van.

Inside, Tori was already tending to her wound. Sophie was in the drivers seat, turning the van on. Parker had jumped into the passenger seat, and Hardison was on his computer, decoding the information he had gotten from the companies computers. Nate was reading through the blue folders with a mixture of horror and achievement on his face, they had gotten what they came for. Finally able to lower his guard, Eliot leaned against the back of the van, finally allowing the pounding headache to take over as the van drove away.

A team of fire trucks and police cars passed the black van as it headed out of the parking lot.

* * *

**Alright, what did you think? There is one last chapter, the epilogue, to tie up all the loose ends. Review!**


	8. The End?

**Author's Note: Here it is, the final chapter! I want to thank everyone who reviewed and all my stalkers for reading and not giving up when I failed to update. I hope you all enjoy the ending!**

**I will also give you one word that I hope you will like: Sequel. That's right, I am working on a sequel as we speak. It will be a few months before I put it up though, so please be patient.**

**Disclaimer: Nope**

* * *

The day was a cold one. The cool winds and sheets of light rain immediately attacked any who dared to venture outside. Clouds dark and pregnant with water dominated the sky, blocking out the sun almost entirely. It was a day to stay cooped up inside, watching television or hanging with friends.

Yet, for a small group of people, neither of these things was attainable at the time. For they were mourning the passing of a young girl who went long before her time, because of prototype drugs prescribed to her by a faulty company. The family had decided on a closed funeral, only immediate family and close friends were invited. They wanted no one else to know how their daughter had died. The party was standing outside, under partial protection from the trees. They were in a graveyard, standing over a hole that was dug six feet below the surface. A gravestone was already in place, heading the grave. A plain, yet beautiful casket was beside the hole, the body inside waiting to finally be put to rest. The sound of quiet sobbing was coming from the small group of people. Those who were not crying were standing with a solemn look on their face.

Nate, dressed in a long black trench coat to keep out the rain, stood underneath a large oak tree several yards away from where the funeral was taking place. Under his jacket, his hand was grasped around manila envelope. Inside was a group of blue folders, which Parker had stolen from Floyd's Pharmaceuticals several nights before. He had come to deliver the envelope to the Battens. The others were at the office, preparing a small celebration for a job well done. Nate had decided to attend the funeral alone, and had slipped out before anyone could object. He didn't want any of the others to see him like this, especially Sophie. The memory of his son's funeral was still fresh on his mind, and this just brought everything back. He remembered how confused he was, how confused everyone was, that a child so young could have died. Children were supposed to outlive their parents, not the other way around.

He stood there for the better part of two hours, not wanting to get any closer to the private ceremony. His eyes watered and tears rolled down his cheeks as the casket was slowly lowered into the grave. Slowly, the crowd dispersed, until only the parents were left to mourn for their daughter. It was then that Nathan approached the couple. When they turned, he said nothing; nothing was needed to be said. He outstretched his hand that was holding the files toward the couple. Mr. Batten took a few steps forward and accepted the folder. Nate looks the grieving couple in the eyes. "There should be enough there to permanently shut them down."

"Thank you." Mrs. Batten whispered, fresh tears rolling down her face. The husband nodded in agreement. The three just stood there for several minutes. None wanting to leave, but none needing to stay. Nate finally started when his phone vibrated gently in his pocket. One of the team wondering where he was, no doubt. Nate ignored it; he would head back soon enough.

The Battens finally left, leaving Nathan there to contemplate the future and the past. He wondered what would come next. This job had hit hard. They had always gotten the 'bad guy', but never were they too late to save their client who was alive when they were sought out to help. The others, especially Eliot and Tori, were used to holding lives in the palm of their hands. That was the problem with being the good guys; the lives you were protecting happened to be innocent.

Nate slowly turned away from the freshly dug grave and headed back to his car. There was another matter to be dealt with.

At the Leverage Headquarters, the rest of the team was awaiting the return of their leader. Several large pizzas were open and strewn across the top of the conference table. The six screen flat screen anchored on the wall was showing all of the old newsreels detailing the break-in and explosion of Floyd's Pharmaceuticals two nights before. Placed randomly in the conference room was the team themselves, each dealing with the sour victory in their own way. Eliot had brought two packs of beer, and was currently working on his first bottle. He was sitting in one of the chairs, his boot-covered feet propped up on the table, a piece of pizza in his free hand. His left hand was bandaged, his knuckles being broken from the break-in. His eye had deflated back to normal size, only a ghost of a bruise left on his face. Eliot's headache was gone, thanks to several hours of sleep and some Napryson. Hardison was situated at the other end of the table, sitting on the glass instead of a chair. A bottle of orange soda lay empty next to his computer, which he was ever-working on. Tori was leaning again the wall, her eyes scanning the written words on the screens while slowly sipping on a glass of scotch she had stolen from Nate's stash. Under her shirt, her side was wrapped in bandages from the bullet wound she had gotten. Sophie was sitting in a chair working on a cup of tee, and Parker was laying, her back on the floor, feet propped up against the wall. Her shoes and socks were off, and she was wiggling her toes while eating a piece of pizza. A low buzz of conversation was vibrating around the room, Eliot the only quiet figure.

Nate walked in to the room, interrupting the casual atmosphere. Sighing, he sat down and took a piece of pizza. That move seemed to break the strange silence of the room, and everyone crowded around the table, taking a seat. They looked at Nate in expectancy, wondering how the drop went. "Well?"

"Floyd's Pharmaceuticals wont be functioning much longer." Smiles erupted on all five of the faces, and the strain was gone. Nathan couldn't understand how they hid the grief of the young girls death. Then again, he wasn't sure if any of them were fazed by it. He decided to put those thoughts in the past, if only to get through this gathering, and tried to focus on the good side of the situation. Nate was very proud of the way that his team had pulled everything together this job. They had worked as smoothly as they had before in LA, and part of it was thanks to Tori. Introducing a new player caused everyone else to unconsciously do his or her best, not wanting to be outdone by the newbie. Speaking of Tori, it was time to decide whether she would stay or not. Sophie and he had argued the first time everyone had met Tori, and the two had come to the decision that the team would have the final say if she Tori stayed or not. One no, and she would be back on the streets, looking for a new job. Nathan had agreed, figuring that it was only fair. Everyone else had to work with her as well.

"Man, Oregon better watch it's back!" Hardison exclaimed, getting a grin from the rest of the party.

"And it's front." Parker added, causing several strange looks to be cast her way.

Tori had remained quiet since Nate had entered the room, and was arriving on the exact thoughts that Nate was thinking. She knew that the others had to accept her in order for her stay to be prolonged. Instead of being kicked out, she excused herself, claiming that she had to go do something in the kitchen. She left, leaving the original crew in the conference room.

"Alright guys. You've seen Tori in action. What do you say?" Nate asked, looking at each of his friends in the eye. He leaned back in his chair, waiting for the response.

"Sure." Parker was the first to accept their new teammate.

"I like her." Hardison was next, agreeing with Parker.

"She's got potential…and the same shoe size as me." Sophie sheepishly exclaimed. With three yeses, four pairs of eyes turned to the Hitter, who was thinking very deeply about his choice.

He didn't trust her, and didn't like the idea that she could be working very closely with _his_ teammates and friends. However, if they kicked her out, Tori would just disappear, and Eliot would never figure out the girls mysterious past. Curiosity won the battle. Besides, Eliot knew that he could take her, as long as a gun was not in proximity. "Fine."

Sophie stood up and squealed. "I'll go tell her." She then promptly left the room.

Nate allowed a small smile to grow on his lips. The team was complete. Hitter plus Hacker plus Grifter plus Thief plus Tracker plus one Honest Man equaled the perfect Leverage.

Several hours had passed since the others had gone home. After Tori had been properly inducted into the team, the pizza had quickly disappeared. After the food was gone, there was no real reason for anyone to stay, and the group had dispersed. Sophie and Hardison were the first to leave, followed by Parker. It was then that Eliot had excused himself to his office for some personal business. He wanted to get a jumpstart on his investigation. He would have gone home, but Hardison had more information at the office laying around than he had at his apartment. Eliot was sitting in his chair, computer screen on. His eyes were scanning the information on the screen, while he was talking into his phone.

"Listen, Skeeter, I know ya can find information 'bout her…..Hey, you owe me, remember!.......Or do I have to remind ya about Bosnia…..next week's fine." He promptly shut his phone and ran his hand through his hair. The work it took to find a good rat. He turned his chair to face the door and jumped when he saw a figure standing in the doorway. The person came closer, and he was it was Tori. She had a smile on her face, and was holding a bottle of wine in one hand, and two wine glasses in the other.

"If you're trying to get information about me, good luck. I clean up very well." She walked toward his desk and sat the wine and glasses on the table in front of her before sitting in the other available seat across from his desk.

"No harm in tryin'." Eliot eyes stared quizzically at the bottle of wine. "You drink wine?"

Tori grinned, and opened the bottle. She then poured moderate sized servings into each glass, and picked up the one closest to her, claiming it as her own. "You don't?"

Eliot waited until Tori took a sip, and then picked up his glass. He took a sip, and liked what he tasted. The girl knew her wine.

"Don't worry." She let out a small laugh. "I don't poison people. To drawn out and painful."

"What do ya want." He ignored her statement.

"Everyone else went home, and I don't like drinking alone. Got a problem?" She took another sip, savoring the flavor. "Mm, one of my favorites; almost two hundred dollars a bottle. Cheap, I know."

Eliot didn't understand why she was sitting here, drinking wine with him. It was almost like she was trying to win him over, like she did the others. But he wouldn't buy it. He leaned close to her, allowing his anger to show. "Ya may have fooled the others, but I know ya ain't what they think ya are…" He paused. "I'll find out. And when I do, if I don't like what I find…" He left the sentence open. Both knew exactly what he meant. Tori smiled.

"Ah, but you'll have to catch me first." She consciously crossed her legs, allowing Eliot to see that she was wearing a pair of black boots. The same boots that she wore when they went to Floyd's Pharmaceuticals. The same pair of boots that had a mechanical weapon hidden inside. Eliot frowned, realizing she was right. He could easily beat her in a hand-to-hand combat situation, something that both of them seemed fully aware of. The trick would be to catch her without a gun or other type of weapon that would place him at a disadvantage.

Tori, knowing Eliot got her message, stood up, glass of wine still in hand. She walked toward the door and turned. "Glad we understand each other." She disappeared.

Eliot leaned back in his chair and stared intensely at the glass of wine in his hand. He had just entered a deadly game of cat and mouse. The problem was, he was unsure of who was the hunter, and who was the prey.

* * *

**The End?**

**I want to know exactly how many of you hate Tori, and how many love her.**


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